GM, Ford Have Different Takes On Pickup Truck Market Solutions

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General Motors will take the wraps off the all-new 2015 GMC Canyon mid-size pickup, sister of the previously unveiled Chevrolet Colorado in a special event prior to the 2014 North American International Auto Show on Sunday. The pair of mid-size pickups represents the biggest differences in strategy ever between GM and the current king of the pickup truck segment, Ford.

GM’s North America President, Mark Reuss, admitted in an interview with the Detroit News that he knows GM is taking a chance with its three-size truck strategy. GM believes smaller pickups will offer its customers a greater variety of options and help the automaker meet federal fuel economy standards.

Following the unveil of the Canyon, Ford’s next generation F-Series pickup will bow at the 2014 NAIAS on Monday. The new F-Series is expected to shed up to 700 lbs. over the outgoing model thanks to the extensive use of lightweight aluminum body panels.

“This could be a defining moment for Ford and the truck segment as a whole,” Alec Gutierrez, an auto analyst at Kelley Blue Book told the Detroit News in a telephone interview. “One possibility is that brand loyalty holds true and F-Series holds steady. Ford could have a winning formula they actually start to conquest buyers. Or maybe the trucks don’t hold up as well, and Ford starts to lose share.”

Reuss said federal fuel economy standards played a large part in the company’s decision to offer midsize trucks. He said the Colorado is some 900 lbs. lighter than its full-size stable mate, the Silverado. GM’s chief truck engineer, Jeff Luke, said the anticipated EPA figures will top the fuel economy of the Silverado and Sierra as well as the old Canyon and Colorado, which had a claimed highway fuel economy of 25 mpg.

“If you look at this graphically and mathematically, you can’t get to an efficiency place that this truck is going to offer no matter what you do to a full-size pickup truck,” Reuss told reporters during LA Auto Show. “And so if you try and do it, all you’re doing is adding cost and not getting the return of the mass out of it.”

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22 Comments

The thing I see here is Ford is taking risk in price, durability and repair cost. Aluminum is cool but it cost more, works well in cars that do not see the major loads of a truck and is very difficult and expensive to repair.

With a truck cheap to buy and repair have always been very important and if Ford did not get this under control it will have an issue.

As for the aluminum I do not see it alone selling more trucks. Better MPG will. GM will continue to remove weight from their full size trucks as they need to meet the same standard.

The smaller truck will sell to people like me that do not want or need a full size truck. We want something that drives like a car but is decent on gas and fits in a parking space easier. We haul loads now and then and it is handy to have but we do not pull large trailers etc. Give me an small extended cab and a decent 6 foot box and I am happy.

But to own a full size truck that takes up my extra garage space, uses more gas and will be empty 80% of the time with one drive no thanks.

Ford does have an ace in the hole with the Ranger as it can come here very fast if needed.

GM even without the Aluminum is still very light and will still hold on with a very competitive truck. In this class it still lies to brans loyalty as few people jump. Ford will gain a leg up because their truck is newer and the styling for anything will be more advanced and will translate to more sales. It will look more like a truck that has advanced than the Chevy that has advanced but just did not look like it.

In this game perception plays a big part and what looks more advance will always be perceived as more advanced. Just look the Ecoboost engine sales. Perceived as a more advanced engine people paid more for it and only got one MPG more than the V8.

Actually, Ford can’t get the Ranger to the US “very quick”. To compete with the Colorado and Canyon on price, it will have to build that truck in North America (US, Canada, or Mexico) in order to side-step the “chicken” tax levied on imported trucks. At present the World Ranger is built in South Africa, Thailand, and Argentina so chicken tax 25% would be added, plus “Federalising” costs (emissions, etc), pushing an already pricey truck, closer to the price of the F150. It would take several months worth of retooling at one of the existing plants in North America to get it on the road. I say if they made the decision today, it would take 3 years to hit the street.

Ten years or so ago, GM had the top selling full size truck (GMC and Chevy combined), today Ford is eating GM’s lunch. GM is not just second, but a very distant second. The lukewarm response to this beat down was what is known as the 2014 Silverado / Sierra. It is sad: If you want an eight speed tranny, a diesel, a cutting edge turbocharged engine, or a true off road truck you really, really have to look elsewhere! On the other hand, if you want a truck that looks 20 years old straight from the showroom floor, complete with a 4.3 liter pushrod V6 (is it 1988 or 1989?), then your GM dealer has a truck for YOU!

I am sure FoMoCo was holding their breath before the 2014 GMs were released. But when they saw the truck I am sure they said: “Well GM must have given up, and is quite happy with second place.”

Your new 1/2 ton will have a old unused Cadillac engine. The engine was designed to go into European Cadillacs prior to the bankruptcy by VM Motori in Italy. VM Motori was 1/2 owned by GM and Penske until Penske sold its share to Fiat. GM only sold its 1/2 to Fiat in the last few months. If you like the idea of pulling a heavy truck and any loads with a European car engine then the RAM is the truck for you. GM obviously knew the engine was not designed for heavy duty service since they could have used in their trucks prior to selling their share. I find it very amusing RAM celebrating the use of GM’s scraps.

Ford just seems to have the better sales model going for the F150. They spend much less on R&D without having a whole other midsized truck to spend money on. If they can get close to the fuel mileage(25mpg) in a full-size, why even bother with a mid-size. The new Colorado does look good though. As for the “new Silverado”, they just plain missed it.

Richard the production could be set up here very easily and the truck would take very few changes as it was designed to be sold here if needed. The ground work was done so the option to sell it here could be used. This is what is so great about the new global platforms.

As for the recall Magrius this is nothing. Has anyone seen one burned? No!. This is not like the Ford Escape where they had some major fires to the point they told the owners not to even drive the and the dealers had them towed. This was a could happen deal and the owners just bring it by and they reflash the computer. No big deal in the new era of MFG being proactive .

Also Ford has been discounting out their butt and that is what is selling more trucks than anything. Right now you can get a Ford dirt cheap because the discounts are so great and at GM the only one discounted is the V6 model and it is not discounted much. In the long run GM is doing the right thing for them and for the owners of the trucks as they will retain their resale much better than the discounted Ford.

Oh and Richard the new F150 is not going to be cheap. The price will go up and there will be no discounts unless things get ugly.

I expect it would take about 2 years from the day they decided to the day they roll the first truck off the line if they decide to ever bring in the ranger. The truck design is pretty much already set for here and the major issue would be getting a plant set up.

But keep in mind this is the same company that imported all those little vans from Turkey with a back seat and window to only remove them here and sell them with no seat and window with no additional tax. Crazy yes but also profitable in a time of need.

If you total GMC and Chevy truck sales they are greater than ford. It has been that way for decades. So in reality GM (GMC&Chevy) is the truck leader and has been for a long time. Now we need GM to get back in the Medium Duty truck business, but dont copy ford and produce a half assed MD truck.

Steve, you need to check your facts brother. Ford’s F series sales is greater than GM’s (Chevy and GMC combined)
This has been so for over 30 years in a row. I’m not a Ford fanboy, but I hate when people “make up” facts without research.

The Ranger was a cheap truck… quite small and not close to what I expect the Colorado and Canyon to be. I think GM is right on with the mid size truck which is close to the 2004 Silverado. It isn’t just about economy it is about the actual size of the truck. As one person said. If you don’t need the big heavy truck then don’t because parking it isn’t fun… My 2004 is maxing out my garage. Some parking lots are difficult. Good for GM.. they are thinking ahead. I think the Silverado is a big too big but this Colorado or Canyon should be great as long as it has truck styling.

For Ford and GM sales you have to be careful as Ford does get creative with their accounting at time.

The Half ton sales Ford most but all years just nip GM a small amount. Now when they compare F truck sales keep in mind they count all the F truck sales all the way to the Medium Duty trucks that GM no longer sells.

Francis now what Ranger are you thinking of the old small one we had or the new larger one sold overseas. In many markets the new one is not loaded up because it is not in a market that buys that kind of truck. If it were to come here it would have all the bells and whistles the full size enjoy less the V8.

I think GM is getting out in front of what’s going to happen in the future in terms of having a truck! Mpgs are going to get so hard to achieve that the cost of owning a full size just to have a truck will be a thing of the past! Customers will have to decide what they are going to use the truck for! Getting to work, hauling a light load, towing a small trailer won’t be good enough to justify buying a expensive truck!

That’s where the mid size truck comes in! It will be able to haul and tow enough to for most people!

Well like I have said the V8 trucks will be available but they will only get more and more expensive to buy as this is how the MFG will limit V8 sales.

In Fords case it will be interesting to see the pricing of the new Atlas as will they eat some of the cost as Aluminum is not cheap. Also how will people react to a truck that before you could rebuild and repair cheaply at home to a truck that will be difficult for even many body shops to repair.

Check into the cost of repair on Aluminum cars. Also note there are only some shops that will touch them. They are welding the bodies with things that vibrate the pieces together. Not many shops have or can afford this new technology right now. In fact it was part of the hold up for Ford bringing these trucks out as they had issues on the process.

I see GM working hard to make these smaller trucks the new defalt for 1/2 ton buyers and move the larger trucks to a 3/4 rating as the CAFE is only going to continue to rise and the heavier trucks have lower standards to meet.

The real thing that will make or break these new smaller trucks is the price. I saw one estimate of $19-32K. Now if they can keep it there they will do fine. If these trucks come in closer to $40K loaded then there will be issues. Pricing and value will be important here.

While Ford is trying to get people to buy full size trucks with a V6 I see GM working to get them to buy a smaller truck with a V6 and even a 4 cylinder.

Sounds like wishfull thinking to me. Where is the evidence to back up your assertion? GM has been turning out some really nice products, but so is everybody! There are really no “bad” vehicles being produced now by any company, but if you look at recent history, I don’t see anything to support your comments. Ford dominates GM in the 3 most important segments, Trucks with their F series, mid size SUV with the escape, and family sedan with the Fusion, and very competive in every other segment, except for the Lincoln brand. I would love to agree with you, but the evidence say otherwise

I have to agree that to be creditable Ford has some solid products in the Fusion, Fiesta and Focus. The trucks are what they are and the F 150 would still sell if they just rebadges a Toyota one as brand loyalty is that strong for may.

The new Mustang will sell in great numbers this coming year to so Ford has a lot going on.

We must remember too that Ford got their money about 5 years before GM so they are a little ahead because they got their loans earlier and have had more product development time.

As for Lincoln it is a utter mess. They have higher some Cadillac folks to see if they could sort it out Right now Cadillac is a good 10-12 years ahead of Lincoln and if they do not have some major changes they will fall even farther behind.

While the rest of Ford is making money Lincoln is a money pit when it should be their best profit centers. Whole luxury cars account for the smaller volume they account for near 75% of all car profits for a company like GM or Ford. This is where GM has the horse before the cart as the trucks and Cadillac will help pay for the rest of the work left at Chevy and Buick.

Keep in mind we really have not see the real new post Chapter 11 stuff at Chevy outside the Corvette. The Bu is a pre design as is the Cruze, Nox and Terrain. Even the Impala was started before and finished after. Once Chevy begins to roll out the new platforms starting with the Nox and Cruze we will see a marked difference to the line. It is good now but thing will get much better with the first of these platforms.

The trucks will be interesting to see how they fair. The Ford price will be interesting with so much aluminum. As time passes it will be interesting to see how people like the repair cost as it will be high. Ask anyone who has crashed an Audi.

I also wonder if the insurance companies may sock it to them too for the increased repair cost.

I would say that Gm is on the right track offering a mid sized truck. Mainly because trucks are still useful when you need them, but can be a white elephant when you don’t. Offering a mid sized truck is perfect because people that want a truck box, but not the full sized truck fuel economy can get what they want. Before I would not have said what I am saying now, because mid sized trucks, such as the Ranger, Colorado/Canyon, the Frontier or the S10/Sonoma did not offer what people needed, fuel economy and a good box size unless you were looking at the Tacoma, and even then the Tacoma does not offer a sufficient sized box, though it gets decent fuel economy. With Chevy focusing on this market, they have access to a fair sized market of people that want that truck capability, without the full sized truck size and fuel economy. By offering a 6.5 ft. box and a 300 hp 25 MPG highway truck, it works well for families that only use a truck for winter driving, moving furniture or junk during spring cleaning, going to hockey practice (I will state that an average hockey bag with equipment is about 5ft long) or going up to the mountains for the weekend. Even I looked at the specs and thought that this truck was a viable replacement for my Silverado, when considering how I use my current truck.

Ford is missing out on a good sized market, true mid sized truck sales from the Detroit Three were decreasing, but with capability and fuel economy, becoming ever important sales of these trucks is bound to rise. True Ford has been out of the mid sized for a while now, but the Ranger was never a very capable or efficient truck, same could be said for the Dakota from Dodge (though making the Dakota as ugly as they did in the third gen might have been a contributing factor) even the S10 and the previous Colorado, the S10 in terms of capability and fuel economy, the Colorado in terms of efficiency. With the new Colorado/Canyon, the perception on the Mid Sized market is bound to change.